


Sometimes They Do

by DisneysBastardBaby



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-06
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-24 08:36:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2575028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DisneysBastardBaby/pseuds/DisneysBastardBaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>My first Fanfic, all feedback is appreciated.</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first Fanfic, all feedback is appreciated.

Ali, much to her annoyance, was woken up by the sound of her roommate and best friend stumbling through their tiny apartment in the wee hours of the morning. If she was completely honest she had never really fully fallen as asleep. Her upcoming exam had kept her up for the past few nights and despite her best friends suggestion of just downing a bottle of rum to help her sleep through the night, she swiftly rejected that that idea and continued to battle her anxiety.

“Really Ash, must you drink to the point where you have zero awareness of how gravity works”

“Hey now, I’ve done the hard part haven’t I? I’m home safe despite the mountain of guys begging me to be theirs for the night. I’d call that an accomplishment, and now all I need is my best bud to tuck me in safe and sound. It would also be appreciated if you made sure I don’t die in my sleep.” Ashlyn slurred and then finished her sentence with that signature smile and flash of her dimple.

Ali sighed with a slight chuckle helping up her friend who once again had tripped and fallen over the pile of scrap materials they had been collecting.

“You are so lucky to have me as a friend” Ali remarked dragging her through the apartment

“No, no I am _more_ that lucky to have you, sweetness”

Ali smiled, she remembered a time when she hated when Ashlyn would call her that, but now it made her feel special. She placed Ashlyn down in her room and took off her boots and top. Ashlyn was already out at this point which made it a little more difficult for Ali. However this was not the first time she had to do this for her friend and so she quickly developed and efficient method. She wrapped her up and made sure her head was elevated, should she throw up in the night. Ali leaves her there peacefully and decides that it’s time for her to grab a few hours of sleep before her exam tomorrow.

…

Ali is already up and on her third mug of coffee when Ashlyn saunters into the kitchen looking for breakfast.

“Morning sweetness” Ashlyn bellows out

“Ahh why are you chipper” Ali says ushering Ashlyn to keep the noise down

“Wow you look terrible. Like _really_ bad considering I’m the one who was out most the night”

“Gee thanks” Ali remarks a little frustrated that her last minute revision is being halted. “Why do you look moderately well by the way, surely you should still be passed out right now”

“Ha, ‘moderately well’, I think that’s the nicest thing you said to be all week sweetness”

“Yeah, sorry about that, you know stress makes me a little mean, but after today I’ll be back to normal. I just really can’t fuck up this exam.”

“It’s cool” Ashlyn mumbles between taking bites of her toast “we all handle stress differently”

“Oh don’t I know it” says Ali with raised eyebrow and a smirk

“What’s that supposed to mean huh?”

“Oh you know, just that noticed that you tend to get a little slutty when you’re under pressure”

Ashlyn fake gasped. She couldn’t be mad because she knew it was true. Still feigning hurt she turns to Ali looking her dead in the eye.

“I am a young, attractive, healthy woman, who happens to enjoy the pleasures of sex with men. Sue me. I am very normal in that respect.”

Ali gives her a quizzical look.

“Ok maybe I enjoy it more than the average person but that doesn’t make me a bad person. Maybe you should take a note out of my book”

“What’s that supposed to mean” Ali says defensively

“Well, when’s the last time you’ve had anyone over huh? If you just came out with me once in while I’m sure you’d get snapped up in an instant.

“Firstly, that is none of your concern. I manage completely fine by myself and secondly I doubt I’d ‘get snapped up in an instant’.”

“Oh and why not?”

“Unfortunately the strain of studying law has meant I’ve lost much of my charisma” Ali says dramatically

“True, true” Ashlyn replies with straight face

Ali laughs scrunching her nose and throwing her head back. Ashlyn caves and finishes what she going to say

“But” Ashlyn adds “that cute face and pretty brown eyes will cover up your lack of charm, not to mention how uptight you can be.”

“OK calm down there buddy, go back to part with the cute face”

“Seriously Al, you’ve got a decent bod on you too” Ashlyn winked

Ali blushed, she didn’t know why though. Perhaps it had been too long since someone had said these things about her, even if it was her best friend.

Ashlyn continued, “I’ll tell you what, tonight we will go out together in celebration of you exams being over”

Ali groans “can’t we just stay in instead; we could have a movie marathon” Ali suddenly becomes an infant in her excitement. Ashlyn simply smiles at her friends mercurial emotions. Ashlyn doesn’t take much convincing

“Ok but Jim Carrey movies only, I love that guy”

They both agree on the evening plans and Ali goes to get ready for her summer exam.

…

**1 year earlier**

“Great to see so many new faces here, I’m really excited about this season, hopefully we all have fun and who knows maybe we might win the league along the way. For those who don’t know me, I’m Dan and this fella next to me is my assistant Barry, but you can all call him Baz or Bazza.”

The newbies all laugh, as Dan instructs them to begin there warm up. They do a few laps before they are told to partner up with someone they don’t know and find out a bit about each other as they stretched.

“Hello, I’m Ashlyn” said a tall blonde haired girl. She was definitely not a shy person; she even gave the other girl a hug as she thought it would ease any awkwardness. She was wrong.

The brown haired girl was taken aback and a little stiff during the hug. Once the embrace was over she stood there staring at the girl.

Ashlyn motioned for her to talk

“Hi Ashlyn, I’m Ali” she said hesitantly.

“Are you sure coz you don’t seem very convinced to me”

Ali smiled, it was infectious Ashlyn soon followed

“Yes I’m sure” Ali opened up a bit “I’m 23 and a law student. What about you?

“Oh, I’m 22 and I’m eventually going to become an elementary school teacher, being a kid myself I think I be pretty good at it.”

Ali didn’t look impressed and Ashlyn caught on.

“What, just because I don’t study law or medicine I’m not interesting?”

Ali mumbled, “No, no it’s not that, it’s just kids make me feel really awkward and uncomfortable. My mums a teacher too” she hoped this would win Ashlyn back

Ashlyn just laughed “you’re afraid of kids”

Ali got defensive “I’m not afraid I just think there’re weird and clingy”

Ashlyn laughed even harder and Ali was confused as to why.

Just as Ali went to speak again Dan called them over. They got in to groups based on their positions. Ali was a defender, right back to be specific and Ashlyn was goal keeper. They did drills for a while and finished with a game. Much to Ashlyn’s surprise Ali was really good, more aggressive than she would have predicted. Ashlyn was good too, she had great trash talk which made Ali laugh at the worst moments, she was a little cocky but it worked for her.

They session was over and they were informed about there’re first game of the season in 2 weeks’ time. As they were packing up, ready to leave the park Ali decided she would strike up some more conversation with Ashlyn. She interrupted the keeper talking about how hot she thought Baz was and asking some of the girls if they knew if he was dating anyone. She was not surprised by how forward Ashlyn was.

“Hey so I couldn’t help but notice you have a slight accent, you haven’t always lived in DC have you?” Ali asked

“Good spot sweetness”

Ali felt uncomfortable. If she hadn’t already heard Ashlyn talk about how badly she wanted to jump the assistant coach she would have thought she was flirting. She realised it was just something Ashlyn called people as a turn of endearment like ‘darling’ or ‘sweetheart’, she was still wasn’t sure of it though.

Ashlyn, oblivious to Ali’s aversion continued,

“Yeah I was born and raised in Florida, in a small beach town to be precise, something brought me here a year ago and I decided to stay.”

Ali noticed a pang of sadness that washed over Ashlyn when she said that something brought here but she decided not to dig.

“I played a little football in high school but I’ve mostly joined the Saturday pub league to make some friends and have a good time. How about you Al? Can I call you Al? Are we there yet?”

Ali laughed and did nose crinkle thing, “well um considering you called me sweetness before I think Al will be OK” Ali said giving two thumbs up for reassurance “and yes I have lived in DC my whole life, but I would like to travel eventually.”

Ashlyn listen intensely, she thought Ali seemed cool enough but it was clear they came from two different worlds. They continued their conversation as they walked home together. Ali said that her reason for joining the team where the same as Ashlyn but that was only half the story. Over the last few months Ali had been swamped with school. She had lost a lot of friends and was leaving the house less and less. Whenever her parents would check up on her she would play it off like everything was cool but they could see through it, especially her older brother Kyle. Her parents saw flyer for the pub league recruiting new players and told her to get involved. They practically forced her and insisted that it would be a good was to let of steam from school. She hadn’t played since she was 15 but you could never tell. Today was her first session, same for Ashlyn, they both agreed that it was fun and would definitely be back.

“Well this is me, I live in the Mason House apartments” Ashlyn said pointing down one the side roads

“Oh cool, I live a few blocks down” suddenly something caught Ali’s attention “hey wait didn’t I here they were knocking down those apartment in like a month”

Ashlyn looked sad, “Yeah, I’ve been trying to look for someplace new but really tough. Especially when everyone place I’ve looked at, I’d have to share with some weirdo.”

Ali burst out “I have a spare room” a little too eagerly. She felt embarrassed and decided to make a joke “I mean I know you don’t wanna share a house with a weirdo but if you desperate”

Ashlyn laughed “hey you made a joke”

“I know I was pretty funny right”

“It was a solid A; my outstanding humour is starting to rub off on you already”

“And for that I am grateful” Ali replied bowing her head. The awkwardness was gone and she felt extremely comfortable around this girl whom she had only met 2 hours ago.

“So were you serious about that spare room, I mean I don’t want you to feel like you have to.”

“Of course I was serious” Ali said with a sweet smile

Ashlyn looked like the weight of the world had just been lifted from her shoulders; she went to give Ali another hug. This time Ali hugged her back

“Hey, you do know how to hug. This morning I was unsure” Ashlyn said sarcastically

Ali rolled her eyes “Well this morning, you were just some creep hugging random people” Ali said playfully

“And now I’m a creep you’ll be living with”

They exchanged numbers and went their separate ways; soon they would be living together.

…

Ali returned to their apartment to be greeted with Ashlyn making up another random song as she did the house chores. This time she was singing, very badly, about how happy she was that it was summer and she didn’t have to teach anymore. “YES YES YES, THE KIDS ARE GONE, AND NOW I CAN GET DRUNK ALL THE TIME”

“That didn’t even rhyme, you’re getting sloppy Harris” Ali said in jest

Ashlyn laughed and continued cleaning “hey how was the exam, I bet it was a piece of piss right?”

Ali looked her extremely confused and a little disgusted. “’a piece of piss?’ what the hell does that mean? Is that another one of your southern expressions?”

Ashlyn chucked “no, it’s British I’ve trying to learn some stuff for my trip. It means was it easy, although I’m not sure how the piss is involved”

“Well anyway, it was rather easy or maybe that because I didn’t really understand what they were asking me” Ali had a look of worry on her face, Ashlyn came over to her and held her in a tight embrace.

“Don’t worry Al, you’re the smartest person I know, if you found it easy it just shows that all your studying was paying off.

Ali hadn’t realised how long it had been since someone was so close to her. She liked it, a lot, even if it was Ashlyn. The blonde gave her a tender peck on the head then went to grab the popcorn for their movie marathon. Ali went to her and got into PJs before snuggling on the sofa with Ashlyn.

“I’m glad we’re doing this instead of going out, getting drunk and hooking up with random guys”

“Me too” Ashlyn says sweetly while pulling Ali closer. She never took her eyes of the TV; The Grinch was too engrossing, so she never saw the look Ali was giving her. Something had changed for Ali but she had yet to notice it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for this update being long overdue and also because its a load of bollocks. also i know nothing about law and stuff

“Ali, Al, its OK I’m here” Ashlyn gently tries to wake Ali from her dream. Ali had been calling out Ashlyn’s name. Ashlyn moved further on to the bed and puts her hand on Ali’s back. Ali shot up in a sweat panicking and unsure of her surroundings. Its dark but she knows Ashlyn is the one holding her.

“Hey, hey its ok I’m here. What happened? I’ve never seen you like this. What was it Al?”

Al stays silent, she was just about to make up a lie but Ashlyn starts talking again.

“I heard you from my room, you were calling my name. Was it a nightmare? You can tell me Al I just want you to be Ok”

Usually whenever something is wrong with Ali she will shrug it off and put on a hard act but her silence truly worried Ashlyn

She just grabs her friend and holds her tightly, Ali tenses up, and so Ashlyn just rubs her back soothingly to let her know its ok. They stay like this until Ali falls asleep. She was only pretending though so that Ashlyn would get some rest too. When she realises Ashlyn isn’t going anywhere she decides to try and make sense of her nightmare. She’s had bad dreams before but never like this, never intense enough to wake others up.

It didn't make any sense, in her dream Ashlyn was leaving. That was it. She wasn't hurt or dying she was only leaving. Ali didn't know where or for how long but for some reason she couldn't stomach it. The idea of Ashlyn leaving terrified her. She remembers trying to call out to her and then starting to run to catch her, but she never got anywhere. She was screaming but no words where coming out and Ashlyn got away. She woke up to Ashlyn comforting her. She felt so drained she could barely speak.

Soon she actually did fall asleep; with Ashlyn wrapped around her she slept peacefully.

 

The next morning Ashlyn woke up first. Ali was buried between her and the sheets. She knew she couldn’t get up without waking Ali, but she didn’t want to get up anyway. She wanted Ali to know she was here for her, so she simply waited and watched her friend sleep. Thankfully Ali woke a few minutes after. She looked up and saw Ashlyn giving her a weak smile. Ali felt extremely embarrassed about what had happened during the night.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah I’m great” Ali said, acting like nothing had happened. She put on a brave face and smiled but Ashlyn knew it wasn’t genuine. Ali moved to get up but Ashlyn was still holding her.

“Do you want to talk about what it was?”

“No”

“But maybe I can help”

“You already have”

“Ok”

Ali moved to get up again but this time Ashlyn let her go. As Ali made her way to the door she turned back to look at Ashlyn

“Seriously Ash it’s nothing, just a stupid nightmare it didn’t mean anything.”  She said the last part more to convince herself. Ashlyn got up ready to return to her room.

“Good, I’m glad you feel better” she said hugging Ali and giving her a tender kiss on the cheek. She held Ali face between her hands and looked at Ali deep in the eyes. She looked at Ali with such intensity. Ashlyn always was fierce when it came to the things she cared for the most.

“You know you can tell me anything Al? I love you. You know that right?

Ali smiled and nodded and then Ashlyn let go of her and fled to her room. Ali went to bath room trying to freshen up, but spent most of her time gazing at her reflection trying to figure out why she was crying. She noticed a change in feelings. The feelings she was having for her best friend. It was confirmed when Ashlyn said she loved her. In that moment she was so happy to hear those words but at the same time sad because she knew they were not meant the way she would have liked. She was falling for Ashlyn and she was scared.

…

1 week later

Ali had decided that the best way for her too deal with her feelings for her best friend was to not deal with them. Instead she decided to bury them deep down hoping they would fade. Thankfully a happy distraction came her way. As a result of her getting the highest score on the Law exam, her professor is allowing her to help out in his new case. It will be difficult and they are defending a man who seems all but guilty of the crimes he’s accused of. Ali is happy though, the more time she spends away from home and swamped in work the easier it will be for her to ignore her feelings.

Just as predicted Ali get very busy and stressed. The trial is not going at all well for them but it’s still early days. The distance between Ali and Ashlyn grows and Ashlyn recognises it. She’s not mad though, she proud of her friend pursuing her dreams this hard, but she does feel a little lonely at times. Instead of Ashlyn hanging out in their apartment alone waiting for Ali to arrive home night after night, she decides she should start going out again. Much to her friends dismay Ashlyn hadn’t been out with them at all recently. When they would ask her why not she would make up some story about going on a cleanse. They all knew it was complete rubbish not to mention Ashlyn couldn’t give two fucks about any of that stuff anyway. The real reason was because Ali needed her. She knew her friend couldn’t make it through the night without her holding her and comforting her till the dreams went away. She didn’t know how to explain that to her friends so instead she just lied.

As much as Ali wished she could fight of the nightmares alone she knew she was wrong. She and Ashlyn had a system. Ali didn’t particularly like it, but she knew she needed it. Ashlyn’s patience and understanding made Ali’s efforts of erasing her feelings damn near impossible.

…

Ashlyn was back on the prowl, only after getting the blessing of her best friend of course, and she had to admit she really missed it. Ashlyn was such a free spirit, routines never did really appeal to her. She wanted every day to be different, to learn something new and meet different people. She had to admit she was relieved when Ali said that she would be able to make through the nights without her. Naturally she only wanted the best for her friend but she also wanted things to go back to normal. She could have never had guessed that Ali was lying the whole time. Every time Ashlyn was out all night and Ali was alone, the dreams would come back and be just as terrible. Only this time she got better at hiding it. Or at least she thought she did, a few people at the law firm noticed how drained she looked in the mornings, and that she had huge bags under her eyes, but she would just say it’s because she was working all through the night. They all believed her course; they all knew how dedicated she was to her work.

Ali started to believe her powers of deceptions where at an all-time high, she also started to feel that her lack of interaction with Ashlyn was helping her erase those feelings. But some things just aren’t meant to work out the way you want. She realised this two days later when Ashlyn decided not to spend the night at her friend Megan’s house like she originally told Ali. She arrived home at around 2:30am to the sound piecing shrieks of Ali calling her name. She rushed into the room and woke Ali immediately. Ali gave her sorry look. She knew she had been caught out. Ashlyn was a little angry her best friend had been lying to her, but she knew that Ali was probably doing it because she cared about her. Ashlyn remained silent and just climbed into the bed instead. They would talk in the morning. Right now though, Ali just needed her.

The following morning, much to Ashlyn’s dismay, Ali never spoke about how she had been tricking Ashlyn. Ashlyn wanted to bring it up but in the end she decided that actions would speak louder than words. For the rest of the week she never went out. Instead she was in bed by 10pm, Ali’s bed. Where she would hold her best friend through the night like there was no place else she needed to be.

All this care and regard for her wellbeing made Ashlyn even more loveable in Ali’s eyes. This was not what she wanted but she had to admit it was becoming harder to resist. Even work couldn’t distract her anymore, she was on the brink of doing something extremely stupid out of fear or extremely brave out of love.

…

A few days have passed and Ali still needs the comfort of Ashlyn before she can rest easily at night. It’s approaching 10pm in their apartment and Ali is sitting on the floor of the living room with papers scattered around her. Its crunch time in terms of her case and things are quickly deteriorating, she’s eager to show what she can offer to the firm but finding any chance of swaying the verdict is becoming near impossible. Ashlyn is sitting on the sofa, playing games on her phone. She wishes there was something she could do to help her stressed out friend, but she knows nothing about law. She decides to going for an old fashioned method of just getting Ali to explain to her all the key elements of the case although it’s prohibited. By the end of Ali’s explanation, Ashlyn has a look on her face that implies Ali has missed the most obvious clue. This annoys Ali but she waits to hear what Ashlyn has to say.

“Look I’m not saying that the facts and evidence aren’t important here but maybe-“

Ali cuts her off, a little frustrated that a person with no experience of how the system works is challenging her.

“Listen Ash I know you’re trying to help and all but it simply isn’t true, it can’t be, he did it, then he tried to hide the evidence.”

“He’s the guys your supposed to be defending shouldn’t you be giving him the benefit of the doubt”

Ali’s scowl says it all. Ashlyn thinks about retreating but decides against it.

“All I’m saying is that implausible things do happen, just look at my parents. If it wasn’t for DC and their miracle doctors and miracle medicines my parents would be dead but there’re not.

“Yeah but technically they should be” Ali remarked whilst still looking at her papers

By the time she realised just how cruel those words sounded it was too late. Ashlyn had already felt the weight of her words and simply looked at Ali with a crushed heart. She knew Ali never meant it that way and that she way just stressed which made her a little mean but it still hurt all the same. Ali stopped shuffling her papers and brought her hands to her mouth in shock of her own actions. She looked up at Ashlyn and was met with the saddest eyes she ever seen. Before she could even spit out an apology Ashlyn gave her a weak smile.

“It’s ok; I know you never meant it like that”

“Ash I am so sorry, that’s not-

“Honestly Al, just forget about it” Ashlyn interrupted followed by another weak smile.

If Ashlyn wasn’t her roommate and best friend she maybe would have been convinced, but she knew better. She knew that if she kept apologising Ashlyn might actually snap but she couldn’t just leave it like this.

The silence was becoming deafening, just as Ali went to reach for the blonde’s hand Ashlyn shot up

“We should go out tonight, I think you need to let loose a bit, you know approach this with a fresh mind”

“Oh because coming home hung over as fuck at 4 in the morning days before the final statement is really going to help” Ali rolled her eyes and snorted

Ashlyn smiled, her friend was back in all her sarcastic glory.

“Well…Are you coming or not sweetness?”

Ali didn’t really think it was a smart idea but she still felt bad about what she said to Ash. She felt like she owed her this night out so she said yes and the hit the town together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is always appreciated, hopefully the next chapter is more exciting.


End file.
